Hunger
by TheNightshade43
Summary: After Airachnid's exile, Soundwave begins to feel a little. . .strange. His hunger grows, yet he's determined not to let it control him. Can he succeed, or will the Decepticons be forced to put matters into their own hands?
1. Knockout

It started with a small scratch.

Soundwave was efficient in clearing the halls of the Terrorcons. Under his command the Vehicons cleared the Nemesis one hallway at a time of the infected.

When it came to Airachnid, her threat was met with stoic, unresponsive silence.

Her fury could be felt, but the spymaster was unafraid. As she charged with her Insecticons he activated the ground bridge, sending the horde through to one of Cybertron's moons. However he did not anticipate the sharp sting of one of her claws as it scraped along his neck. With a wince he swatted the claw away before it retracted, following its owner into the portal. When the horde went through he deactivated the connection, leaving the treacherous femme stranded and no longer a threat to the Cause.

He turned and left the Vehicons to dispose of the infected corpses, ready for the next order to come forth.

The next few Earth days were relatively uneventful. Sure, there was an attempt or two on a couple of their mines by the troublesome Autobots, but the losses were minimal.

There was little to do, though he grew restless when he tried to recharge, so decided to patrol the hallways.

It had started out as a tiny annoyance. An undefined hunger that wouldn't let go. Energon no longer gave him the satisfaction it used to, while the hunger only grew.

Soundwave walked past a room and found the tools requested by Knockout still undelivered. Well, he had nothing better to do, he decided, so he might as well deliver them. He took the tools and headed toward the medbay.

Once he got there he found the room empty. Considering the relative lack of activity lately it wasn't a huge surprise. He walked in and carefully deposited the tools on one of the medical benches, and was about to leave when a murmur caught his attention.

Curious, he headed toward the back room, where he saw Knockout in recharge. The Medic appeared to be dreaming, and from the faint, occasional word that escaped the mech's mouth the dream seemed to be a good one.

The blue mech entered the room, finding himself fascinated by the sight before him.

Watching the normally chatty mech sprawled out on the berth, off guard and completely helpless brought on the hunger, driving him closer to the other Decepticon.

It was an odd thought, but the sports car was simply beautiful, from the bold red colouration and white details to the way he remained blissfully unaware of the third in command's presence. Honestly, the mech needed to be more careful.

Before he knew what had happened Soundwave found himself leaning over the Medic's frame, focused on the neck presented to him. His enhanced hearing could detect the slow, rhythmic pulse of circulating fuel lines. By now the hunger gnawed at him, imploring him to get just a little closer. The mask he had slid just a little to reveal his mouth. There was a little pressure, and with a small shrug he let it loose, his mouth dividing into sections as it split.

Knockout said something incomprehensible and shifted toward the flier.

Soundwave stopped and reared back, quickly leaving the room as his mask slid back into place.

Just what was he doing?

Was he about to. . ._bite_ the Medic?

No, that couldn't be right. That would be ridiculous.

He just had to go back to his quarters and rest.

The third in command's gait was swift as he made his way through the corridors, intent to make it back to the solitude of his quarters before anything else happened.

The pesky hunger was still there, but after he exerted some will he managed to lessen it to a more managible level.


	2. Starscream

Starscream strode down a hallway, having returned from a late night flight. He often loved to go and fly under the stars to clear his head.

Distracted as he was, Soundwave didn't hear or detect the seeker until they both rounded a blind corner and the second in command bumped into him.

"Watch where you're going!" Starscream growled, and barged past the mute, wrongly identifying him as a Vehicon.

Soundwave stumbled from the force, and grabbed the seeker's shoulder to halt his progress. He could hear his comrade's spark pulse faster from the fright, and found it intoxicating, even as the mech whirled around and stared at him in shock. To the mech's credit he recovered quickly.

"What are you doing up so late?" A hint of nervousness was in his voice, a typical tone whenever the pair were alone. Starscream never trusted Soundwave. The eerie silence, the blank, expressiveness mask, the way the blue mech waited with unrelenting patience...

"Patrolling." The Vehicon's voice he used as he lied came out as smooth as silk as he regarded the seeker. He watched the mech flinch with rapt fascination as he took a step forward, eating up the distance between them until they were inches apart.

He wanted to get even closer for some reason, and the only way to do that was to distract him. He used his stoic silence and unreadable screen as tools to achieve this. All the while his hands eased closer to the mech's sides, ready to grab when needed.

Starscream backed away, his nervousness growing by the moment.

"W-what are you doing!?" He glared. "If you must know I went for a flight; I swear I didn't do anything wrong!" As he backed up his back and wings were pressed against the wall. He was trapped.

The silent mech kept coming closer. He wrapped one of his hands around the top of the seeker's neck to restrain him, earning a small yelp from the cornered mech in the process, while his other hand pressed against the slender mech's chest, pushing him against the wall. "S-soundwave! Let me go at once!" He got nothing in response aside from a head tilt, as though the third in command was listening intently to something else. "As your superior officer I demand you to let me go this instance!"

Instead what he got was the blue mech leaning in closer, and a strange purr, long and continual, came from Soundwave's engines, while Starscream's head was shifted to the side, his neck exposed to the other flier.

His protests and struggles were momentarily distracted when he heard a small hiss, and caught the sight of the mech's mask slide, just a little, revealing a light face, and with it, a horrifying discovery. In the corner of his optic he saw the split, vampiric mouth that matched those of a Terrorcon.

"Stay back!" He yelled in a fruitless warning as he struggled with all his might.

Desperation made Starscream strong, but the unrelenting, building hunger made Soundwave ignore the kicks to his legs and the thrashing that threatened to unbalance him. His grip remained firm, pinning the struggling seeker in place.

His mouth split further, widening his gape, and feeding cables shot forward as he lunged, craving the fuel that he could feel pulsing just beneath the exposed neck. Just as he was about to bite he felt a pair of strong, heavy hands grab the top of his back armour, and rip him off the seeker and throw him into a nearby wall.


	3. Discovery

Megatron had been on the way from the throne room, and heard a commotion, namely from Starscream. Ordinarily he would have ignored it. He and Knockout often antagonised each other to the point of a scuffle or two. But something about Starscream's voice alerted him to the possibility that something wasn't right.

He only heard that tone when the seeker was scared. This time he sounded panicked. As much of a pain in the aft his second in command was, it was still worthwhile to investigate what was going on.

The warlord walked around a few corners to find, of all mechs, _Soundwave_ pinning the seeker to the wall and about to lunge. Megatron didn't have time to yell. With haste he grabbed the armour on the top of Soundwave's back and threw the Third-In-Command at the nearest wall.

Starscream widened his optics when he realised he had been freed, and saw that Megatron had put himself between the two mechs.

"M-megatron!" He exclaimed in shock, "but, how did you know I needed assistance?" In gratitude he placed his hands on the grey mech's arm.

The warlord tensed, though his gaze was on the rising mech.

Soundwave hopped up with little effort, but his footing wasn't stable, most likely from the dizzying impact with the wall.

"I heard a commotion." Megatron answered just before the third in command lunged.

There was little method in his attack however, and the warlord grabbed him and threw him down, then pinned him to the ground with his foot. Soundwave's struggles continued until a bit of pressure convinced him to do otherwise. He spotted the features of a Terrorcon and glanced at his Second-In-Command. "Have you been bitten?"

Starscream's wings flared, indignant.

"You knew he was one of those!?" He glared, "And you didn't think sharing that information was important?" He crossed his arms and turned away a little. "Hmph!"

If Megatron could roll his optics, he would have.

"Do you think I'd let him wander, unquarantined, if I did?"

Or he'd have him killed, if he was as mindless as the Vehicons had been. Strangely enough Soundwave appeared sentient. To a degree.

So, now what? Megatron regarded the mech below him for a few moments. He could feel Starscream start to fidget, no doubt about to ask him something.

"What do you have planned for him?"

"We restrain him. If he wants fuel so badly I'll oblige him."

"You what?"

Starscream sounded confused, but the warlord ignored him. He eased his foot off the Third-In-Command, only to give a powerful punch when the silent mech went to rise. Soundwave went limp as Megatron hoisted him up and started heading toward the medbay.

Knockout had been alerted with a hasty comlink beforehand to get prepared, but he still tilted his head when he saw Megatron walk in the medbay, holding an unresponsive Soundwave. Starscream followed close behind, oddly silent.

"Uh, what happened?"

He crossed his arms as the slender mech was put on a berth and restrained.

"Soundwave has been infected by one of the Terrorcons," he replied, "and we were just discussing ways to keep him under control."

There was a look the grey mech gave, and the sports car quickly figured out its meaning.

"Are you sure it's wise, my liege?"

In principle the plan could work; feeding with Megatron's own fuel, tainted with Dark Energon could control the newly fledged Terrorcon, but it could also mutate him further with disastrous results.

It was a risky gambit, and worth doing as a last resort only.

"What would you suggest?" He humoured the medic with a gruff tone. Knockout, despite his vanity and selfishness, was skilled at his job. And it didn't hurt that the tactic might bait Starscream into offering another option.

"Seeing as how Dark Energon started the whole ordeal," he replied, giving Starscream a dirty look, "perhaps we can try fuel that is not already, ah, contaminated, with it." He tilted his hip out of habit, careful of the use of the word 'contaminated'. "At least until we can find a cure for his condition."

That begged the question of finding a volunteer. . .

All three went silent, but Megatron already knew where the discussion was going.

Three. Two. One.

"If I may, Lord Megatron," Knockout bowed a little out of respect, "I think it would be fitting that the volunteer would be the one responsible for this happening."

Starscream flinched when realisation hit.

"W-what!? Megatron, you can't be seriously be taking his side!" He growled, pointing at the medic with a venomous gaze in his optics, "_he_ was the one who used the Synthetic Energon!"

Knockout met the glare with his own.

"Don't you dare blame me for your own stupid actions!"

"Enough!" Megatron rubbed his temples, already getting a headache with their bickering. "Starscream, just let him take some of your fuel."

The seeker pouted and looked away, furious, but said nothing.

Soundwave onlined to hear a couple of voices in what sounded like a banter, accompanied by a brief yelp. He looked around and saw Megatron, who appeared to be equal parts amused and annoyed at said banter.

His silent gaze roamed further to find Starscream sitting on a berth, crossing his arms with indignation, with wing twitches, a clear sign of irritation. Knockout was heard rather than seen.

"Here, try this." The silent mech turned his head to see the medic beside him, who offered him a half full cube of Energon. Wait, that wasn't Energon.

Immediately his hunger took over, and his visor shifted enough for his mouth to appear.

Knockout tilted the cube close enough to allow feeding, though looked like he was about to bolt at a moment's notice, while Soundwave eagerly took in its contents, unaware of anything else until the empty cube was moved away.

Once awareness returned to him the spymaster regarded the others with mild confusion.

"Care to explain why you hid your condition from us?" Megatron asked.

The symbol of a question mark appeared on his visor for scarcely a moment before it dissolved. Memories came back in snatches, and his attempt to answer was interrupted as Megatron continued, "I find it hard to believe a Terrorcon managed to get you." If there was one tone to pick up from this it was one of disappointment.

Soundwave shook his head. A large red cross flashed on his visor.

Megatron had walked closer as he talked, and paused when his subordinate denied the allegation. The warlord held the mech's head and tilted it to the side, revealing a small scratch, almost self-repaired.

"Superficial damage. Caused by Airachnid." Soundwave had almost forgotten about it. He had given himself a scan afterward, but found himself clean. He'd suffered worse in the gladiator pits so going to Knockout over something he deemed simple wasn't worth wasting both their times. Now it seems that had been a huge underestimation.

"Well everything seems to be in order." Starscream said in a nervous fashion to excuse himself. He hopped off the berth and started to walk out.

Megatron called out after him in a half hearted fashion.

"Organise some Vehicons to look for traces of Terrorcons while you're leaving."

He smirked when he heard a small huff of displeasure from the seeker.

"As you wish, Master."

The warlord let go of Soundwave's head as Knockout spoke up.

"With your permission, I can run tests to figure out a cure. If there is one."

"Do what you have to, but take precautions. We can't afford someone else to get infected."

With the Insecticons gone and the army thinned by the previous infection they couldn't afford another blight of Terrorcons. And he wasn't sure how long it would take the seeker to take advantage of the fact his Third-In-Command was out of commission.

Knockout went to work as Megatron left, starting with acquiring some of Soundwave's fuel for testing. If he could figure out more about the Terrorcon virus, then hopefully he could figure out a way to reverse it.


End file.
